Chemical arms entered Syria via Turkey from Libya: Gaddafi cousin

The chemical weapons, widely reported to be used by Takfiri terrorists against Syrians some two years ago, were stolen from Libya and later smuggled into Syria via Turkey, a relative of former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi says.

Ahmed al-Gaddafi al-Qahsi, aka Qaddaf al-Dam, the ex-Libyan dictator’s cousin, made the revelation to the state-owned Russian RT English news network on Friday.

Gaddafi said the sarin gas which was used in Syria in 2013 was actually smuggled from Turkey by Daesh Takfiri terrorists.

“The chemical that was used in Syria came out of Libya through another country and reached Syria, and the Western countries know this well,” he told RT.

On August 21, 2013, a chemical weapon was used in the Ghouta area of Damascus suburbs. Hundreds of people died in the attack. According to reports, the rockets used in the assault were handmade and contained sarin.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the then prime minister, along with Ankara’s Western allies, claimed at the time that the chemical attacks in Syria were carried out by the government.

However, Damascus rejected the claims, saying the attack was carried out by militants operating inside the country to draw in foreign intervention. Subsequent investigations by the UN and Russia backed Syria’s assertions.

US war rhetoric against Syria also intensified in August 2013 after foreign-backed opposition forces accused the government of President Bashar al-Assad of launching the chemical attack.

Gaddafi’s cousin said after the former Libyan dictator was killed by US-backed militants in 2011, Daesh “found underground warehouses in the desert containing these chemical weapons,” which were “then smuggled to the north of Libya and then sold and were recently distributed into the streets of Tripoli.”

After the Ghouta attack, the Syrian government surrendered its stockpiles of chemical weapons to a joint mission led by the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which oversaw their destruction.

The new allegations come amidst confirmations from Turkish lawmakers who earlier this month revealed documents showing that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) was linked to the use of chemical agents by militants operating in Syria.

Earlier this week, lawmakers from the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) said in a press conference in Ankara that sarin, a deadly type of gas used in chemical weapons, had been produced in Turkey and transferred into Syria.

The Turkish opposition said it was impossible Turkish intelligence officials had been unaware of the production and transfer of the prohibited materials into Syria.

Turkey is one of the main supporters of militant groups in Syria. Ankara has been accused of actively training and arming the Takfiri militants and facilitating their safe passage into the Arab country.